WTO Public Forum - Working Session

DIGITALEUROPE Working Session at the WTO Public Forum

Together in pain, together in gain: How digital technology turned possible economic chaos into a mere bump on the road to growth and prosperity and helped set out a brand new course for international trade.

This working session aims to: (i) take stock of what digital technology has achieved over the last few months in terms of keeping economies running and fighting off the pandemic or curbing contagion; (ii) explain why it is of critical interest to strengthen the Multilateral Trading System and how to do it; (iii) expand on a few examples of digitally enabled operations to demonstrate that enhancing resilience beyond COVID-19 is within our reach. This panel will feature experts in healthcare, in trade law and economics, as well as business executives. By combining their most diverse experience of digital trade, the scene will be set for a rewarding debate on practical ways to make governments, multilateral institutions, civil society, and business to work together toward a borderless world where everyone will enjoy the benefits of seamless trade, a world where only viruses will be off-limits.

• Speakers:

• • Pascal Kerneis, Managing Director, European Services Forum
  • Michelle Chivunga, Founder and CEO, Global Policy House
  • Alastair Tempest, CEO, Ecommerce Forum Africa
  • Daphne Dernison, Global Public Policy Director, Philips International
• Moderator:
  • Kevin Verbelen, Company Lawyer, Agoria